Radstock Turnpike Trust(updated 23rd Sept
2013)

This trust was created in 1768 as a town-centred network. It was often
referred to as the Buckland Dinham Trust until 1830. Its main responsibilities
were roads radiating out of Radstock including roads to the coalmines on the
Mendips.

List of
Acts

Radstock

Buckland Dinham
to Tinsbury

8 Geo3 c53

1768

29 Geo3 c101

1789

50 Geo3 c2

1810

11 Geo4

1830

1861

Expired

1872

Radstock 1810

An
Act to enlarge the Term and Powers of Two Acts of His present Majesty, so far
as the same relate to the Road from Buckland Dinbam to Radford Bridge, and from
Midsomer Norton to Norton Saint Phillip, and from Kilmersdon to Radstock in the
County of Somerset. [21st March 1810.]

Select Committee on State of Roads
1840

Thomas Miles of Stone
Easton (clerk to the trust) reported

There are 3 districts with
16 miles 3 furl, 3 miles 4 furl. and 3 miles 4 furl. of road in each; through
7, 2 and 2 parishes respectively– all repaired by the trustees

4 toll gates and 1 side
bar on the first district, 1 gate on the 2nd District and none on
the 3rd District

The roads are stated to be
in “good” repair – no part under indictment for want of repair.

In “Return of length of road in
each Turnpike Trust in England
& Wales”
Parl. Papers 1847-48 – (dated May 1848)

Trust reported 16 miles 6 furl. 11 yds (7 miles less than in 1840)

Report to Secretary of State 1854

BPP
(1854) No. 18.—RADSTOCK ROADS.

The
existing Act for these roads (the 11th
of George IV. cap, 34) was passed in the
year 1830, and repealed the previous Acts of the 8th and 29th of George III.
Its term of thirty-one years will not expire until the year 1861.

The special object of the Trustees in applying for a new Act is thus
stated by the clerk :—" The application to Parliament for an Act, is to
make a new Turnpike Road from our turnpike at Writhlington, to meet the Bath Road
near Dunkerton, instead
of going the circuitous route as at present through Radstock, which will be a saving of a mile and a quarter, and be an accommodation
to the inhabitants at Kilmersdon, Mells, and neighbourhood; and for conveying of coal from the Three Pits at
Writhlington, and one at Vobster towards
supplying Bath and its vicinity."

The present
roads belonging to the Trust are the under mentioned:—

Miles. Furl. Yds.

1. From the White Post to the junction of the
three

Trusts at Philips Norton---90110

2. From Radstock to Buckland bridge---51198

3. From the Fir Tree Inn to the cross ways
beyond

Nobsbury----•10198

4. From Ammerdown Lodges to the Bruton Trust
at

Babington Corner----12165

Total length of road--166 11

On the first-named road there are two
toll-gates about four miles and 115 yards apart, and one side-bar at Charlton;
and on the road from Radstock to Buckland there are two toll-gates about three
miles apart, but only one toll is payable
at these gates for coal, and one toll and a halt for all other traffic.
On the road from the Fir Tree Inn to
the cross-ways beyond Nobsbury there is one toll-gate, which clears no other gate. Reduced tolls are at present
collected upon some classes of
traffic.

The roads as described in the existing Act were divided into three
districts; but certain portions were not
made, namely:—

Miles.
Furl. Yds.Part of " the first district" described in Section 2, asthe road leading from the street at Radstock
to the road at the top of Gallows
Hill, in the parish of Kilmersdon,
in length--16'156And the whole of " the third
district" as described

in Section 2 being, in length ---3566

Total length of road abandoned•542

The debt upon this Trust previously to the
passing of the present Act was £2,655, and the sum afterwards borrowed was
£1,300, making a total debt of £3,955, bearing
interest at four and a half per cent. The Trustees commenced paying off this debt in the year 1841, and reduced the amount by subsequent payments until the year 1852, when the last portion was paid off.
It appears therefore unnecessary to present the
usual abstract of the annual accounts from the
year 1834

It will be observed that the above account
shows a considerable annual excess of income over the
expenditure; namely,—jn .the year 1852 the income was £2,144.
17s.7d-, the expenditure
(exclusive of debt andinterestpaid) £1610 4s.
9d., leaving a balance of £534.12s.l0d.And in 1853 the income was £533 17s 2d more than the expenditure. The
balance in hand on the 31st of December-last was £850. 13s, and would have been £1,294. 13s. 2d. if the funds of the Trust in the
hands of the late bunkers could have been recovered. It would therefore
appear that us far as the present Trust is
concerned, the annual surplus of upwards of £500. would enable the Trustees to
make further reductions in the rate of toll. In respect to the loss sustained
by the Trust by the bankruptcy of the late treasurer or bankers, the clerk has forwarded the following
statement:—" I do not know who were the sureties for the late
treasurer of the Trust. On the 2nd day of July, 1846, Mr. Thomas Miles of Stoneaston, or East
Stonham resigned the office of clerk, and I was appointed.
The only documents that he delivered over to me, were the present Order Book, and some Acts of Parliament, and the maps
of the Turnpike Road. On the death of Mr. Miles,
I wrote to his executor, the Rev. Henry Kelson, to send me all such papers as
related to the Trust. In September
last, Mr. Kelson stated that he had no papers regarding the turnpike roads, but he supposed that they, with many
others, had been destroyed, as he had received other applications which
had been equally unsuccessful.

In the present application to Parliament, it
is proposed to repeal the existing Act and to take new
powers in lieu thereof, for a term of twenty-one years. The principal clauses in the new Bill are the following:—

Clause 9 describes the roads now belonging to the Trust [omitting the
portions of road named in the existing Act, about five and a half miles in
length, which were abandoned.]

Clause 11 describes the new line of road
proposed to be added to the Trust. The new line will be
about two and a quarter miles in length, portions of which appear to be
existing highways. The inclinations of the road in both directions from the Writhlington Lower Coal Works, are proposed to be made as steep
as one in twelve, which inclination will extend towards the Bath Road for a
distance of about half a mile.

Clauses 12 and 13 allow certain deviations to be made from the plan and section.

Clause 14 allows lands to 'be taken
notwithstanding errors of description, by obtaining
a certificate from two or more Justices in petty sessions.

Clause 19 limits the time for the compulsory
purchase of land to three years, and Clause 20 allows four years for the
completion of the works.

Clause 21 continues the present tolls until
the 28th day of September, 1854. Clause 22 specifies the new tolls, which are
generally less than the rates allowed by
the existing Act, and in some respects less than the reduced tolls now collected. By the present Act, the toll
payable upon coal is lower than upon any other description of traffic ; but it
is proposed to put all the tolls on the same level, by which
arrangement, coals will be charged the same as at present, but all other classes of traffic will be reduced. No Toll is
proposed upon dogs drawing.

Clause 24 allows only one toll to be collected on the whole of the roads,
instead of a separate toll on each
district, and an additional half-toll (except for coals) on the first district, agreeably to the
9th section of the present Act.

Clause 27 allows one-horse carts to be weighed,
as in section 14 of the existing Act; but the
weight is now proposed to be extended from 1 ton 4 cwt., to 1 ton 10 cwt. in summer, and 1 ton 5 cwt. in winter.

Report of 1868/9 on Disturnpiking

Radstock
Trust was continued on account of the heavy minerals traffic.

List of Roads

(roads identified and mapped in “Somerset Roads
– the Legacy of Turnpike, by Bentley and Murless 1985”)

Known
Tollhouses(extracts from Tollhouse National
database) 5 sites identified of the 5 reported by the Trust in 1840 (survivors
in bold)

Road
Classification Number

Route

GATE NAME

OS Grid Ref-
Prefi

Easting

Northing

District

Civil Parish

Location (Name or
Number)

Road or Street
(see across)

Position

Evidence

Revised 23rd Sept
2013

A362

Radstock to Frome

Radstock

ST

69

52

AVBS

NORTON RADSTOCK

Radstock

; ; Turnpike
Trust Returns 1824;

A362

Radstock to Frome

Writhlington

ST

7

5

AVBS

NORTON RADSTOCK

Writhlington

; ; Turnpike
Trust Returns 1824;

Charlton (side
dar)

ST

SOME

Charlton

; ; Turnpike
Trust Returns 1824;

A366

Trowbridge
to Radstock

Tucker's
Grave

ST

7515

5510

SOME

HEMINGTON

The Toll
House, Faulkland

Tucker's
Grave Crossroads

opp. pub

OS 1st
Series; ; Turnpike Trust Returns 1824;

B3139

Wells to
Trowbridge

Kilmersdon

ST

69489

52424

SOME

KILMERSDON

The Toll
House, No. 35

Kilmersdon
Hill

bottom of
hill, was moved in 1830

; ;
Turnpike Trust Returns 1824;

Known Milestones

In the Milestone
Society Database, 9 milestones are identified along this road, mostly on the A362,
A366 and B3139, most in a design referred to as London Plate casting. Based on the mileage
reported by the Trust in 1840, would expect 23.